Volunteer Opportunities

Why Volunteer?

PTO Today quite eloquently explains why volunteering is important and we borrow from them:

Hundreds of research studies show that when parents get involved, children do better in school. Researchers have been studying the effects parent attitudes and actions have on their children’s academic success for more than 30 years. The results have been consistent. Anne Henderson and Nancy Berla summed it up in their book A New Generation of Evidence: The Family Is Critical to Student Achievement, which reviewed the existing research: “When parents are involved in their children’s education at home, they do better in school. And when parents are involved in school, children go farther in school and the schools they go to are better.”

Research shows that when parents are involved in their children’s education, the children are more likely to:

earn better grades.

score higher on tests.

pass their classes.

attend school regularly.

have better social skills.

show improved behavior.

be more positive in their attitude toward school.

complete homework assignments.

graduate and continue their education.

A three-year study of 12,000 high school student concluded that “When parents come to school regularly, it reinforces the view in the child’s mind that school and home are connected and that school is an integral part of the whole family’s life.”

First Things First….BeaMentor…Get Screened

Before you can volunteer on campus, you must be screened and cleared with a fingerprinting and background check. WCCUSD requires screening through their partner organization, BeaMentor. The District usually hosts free fingerprinting and screening sessions at the start of every school year. Check the WCCUSD website around the start of the school year for publicized locations, dates and times. Check the WCCUSD Website for full volunteer instructions.

Anyone and everyone coming to campus must sign in in the Main Office prior to starting any activity. Please wear your badge visibly. Please sign out again when you leave.

School Site Council

A School Site Council is required by law, and is probably the most important volunteer position on campus. The School Site Council annually reviews and updates the Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA) including proposed expenditure of funds allocated to the school through the Consolidated Application. The SSC must approve the plan, recommend it to the local governing board for approval, monitor its implementation, and evaluate the effectiveness of the planned activities at least annually.

The School Site Council (SSC) is composed of a group that represents all segments of the school community for the common goal of supporting student success. The group is composed of the principal, teacher representatives, other staff representatives, parents/other community representatives, and student representatives at the secondary level, with each group selected by their peers.

Elections take place at the start of the school year. Since we have student representatives, our School Site Council tries to meet directly after school. Check the e tree and website for election updates.

PTSA Positions

The table below shows all the volunteer positions available within the Korematsu PTSA. Scroll right to see descriptions, time frame and the approximate time commitment needed for each opportunity. If you are interested in any of the positions highlighted yellow, please contact us at korematsuptsa@gmail.com or fill out the contact form below.

Name(required)

Email(required)

Job Choice(required)

WriterCoach Connection

Become a WriterCoach Connection volunteer at Korematsu Middle School. For as little as two hours a month, you’ll get an inside look into middle school, and feel good about strengthening public education in El Cerrito. You do not need to be a parent at Korematsu to volunteer. Anyone from the community can do so, but you must be trained and screened to both WriterCoach and WCCUSD standards.

WriterCoach Connection brings teams of trained volunteers to help students one-on-one with their classroom writing assignments. They provide the training you’ll need to be a terrific coach and reach our goal of providing one-on-one coaching (where the magic happens). Please check out this two-minute compelling video!

Questions, contact June Pangelinan, Volunteer Recruiter, at june@writercoachconnection.org or510-685-7054. WCC also needs coaches at El Cerrito High School, so if your child is graduating from Korematsu and moving onto ECHS sign-up to coach at that site.